“If a measurement matters at all, it is because it must have some conceivable effect on decisions and behaviour. If we can’t identify a decision that could be affected by a proposed measurement and how it could change those decisions, then the measurement simply has no value”
Do we do this enough in education? Honestly and rigorously identify the decisions that could be affected by a proposed measurement.
And if we do – do we ever reconsider the measuring?
Because we should.
#1 by Pete Hall on September 23, 2012 - 9:40 pm
Sometimes assessment is there to inform the decisions made about us, the decisions on the money given to us, the decisions on the success of the initiatives funded to help us.
The decisions those assessments are there to inform often change how the assessments are done, and what outcome is more likely.
It’s likely we’ll see evidence that national standards and league tables were a great idea. The evidence will of course come in the form of league tables. There’s irony there.
20 years on, when the real time worn evidence of the damage caused by narrowing curriculum is self evident, we’ll wonder why we never asked any other country if it was a good idea when they did it.
What’s a toll call to the UK these days?